Dive Brief:
- Target tapped longtime company veteran Gena Fox as senior vice president of design, the company confirmed to Retail Dive on Thursday. Fox has worked at the retailer for about 25 years and most recently served as senior vice president of apparel and accessories, per her LinkedIn.
- Tara Russell will take on Fox's prior responsibilities as senior vice president of merchandising, apparel and accessories. Russell has been with the mass retailer for about 15 years, serving most recently in a guest experience strategy and operations position prior to her new role, but held several apparel and accessories leadership positions prior to that.
- Sarah McMullin now serves as senior vice president of owned brands product operations and manufacturing, which adds to existing responsibilities she had in a senior owned brands position.
Dive Insight:
Target’s leadership continues to evolve under CEO Micael Fiddelke’s turnaround strategy, which includes a focus on regaining merchandising authority in the market.
Russell takes over as head of apparel and accessories after leading the redesign of Target’s SoHo store, the company said. Fox, meanwhile, takes on design after leading Target collaborations with brands including Kate Spade and Roller Rabbit. She has also been an integral part of several Target private labels, including Threshold, All in Motion and Cat and Jack.
“In this role, I’m focused on strengthening a clear, cohesive design point of view across merchandising, brand, and marketing — so everything we create feels connected, intentional, and distinctly Target,” Fox said in her LinkedIn post announcing the new position.
Fox will also impact “how Target shows up in culture” and help thread the design team’s impact throughout the company.
All three SVPs report to Cara Sylvester, who was named Target’s new chief merchandising officer in February. Sylvester’s appointment to the top merchant role meant the company pivoted to a single chief merchandising officer structure. That shift meant Target’s chief merchandising officer of food, essentials and beauty, Lisa Roath, became COO and Jill Sando, chief merchandising officer for apparel and accessories, home and Fun101, retired. Additionally, Chief Commercial Officer Rick Gomez exited the company.
The company is also leaning on more in-person collaboration with its merchandising team to help its turnaround, recently requiring 150 remote merchandising employees to relocate to Target’s Minnesota headquarters or exit the company.
Sylvester and Fiddelke revealed details about Target’s upcoming merchandising efforts during an investor day meeting in March. The chief merchant announced a new beauty experience will debut in about 600 stores later this year and Target will integrate beauty-specific rewards into its loyalty program.
Additionally, Target will revamp and update some of its private label offerings — like its Threshold house brand — and introduce a new “Baby Boutique” section to about 200 stores.
